The Irish racing world and horseracing followers everywhere were shocked to learn on Tuesday of this week, 14 May, that Westmeath’s top National Hunt racehorse owner Michael O’Leary – the man who has been one of the most successful owners in Irish racing in the past number of years – will not be buying any more young horses for Gigginstown House Stud, where he lives, and will be phasing out his racing team over the next five years.
Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair told the Irish Field this week that his Gigginstown House Stud operation, which is overseen by his brother Eddie, will not be buying any store horses or young horses and will be gradually phasing out his very strong racing team over the coming five years.
His biggest racing successes have been in the Aintree Grand National and in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and his double Grand National (2018/2019) winner, Tiger Roll will be going to the Kilbeggan Races on Friday evening of this week, and will now attract even more attention. Rule the World brought Gigginstown its first Grand National in 2016.
Mr. O’Leary told the Irish Field that he intends to spend more time with his young family. “My children are growing into teenagers and I am spending more and more of my time at their activities and I have less time for National Hunt racing,” he said.
“That is a situation that will continue for the foreseeable future. I hope that by running down our string over an extended four or five year period, it will give our trainers ample time to replace our horses without disruption,” the Ryanair CEO added.
Michael O’Leary has dominated National Hunt racing over the last ten years, with his massive Gigginstown Stud team crowned the champion National Hunt owners title again in Punchestown in recent weeks, the seventh time in Ireland they have done so.
Gigginstown House Stud on about 1000 acres, is situated in the Delvin area, and the stud has hundreds of horses which have been trained by some of the top trainers in Ireland, including Gordon Elliott who prepared Tiger Roll to win the Aintree Grand National for the second year running last month. It is suggested that the Elliott stable, the principal trainer for Gigginstown House Stud, could he handling up to one hundred horses from there.
The statement issued says that Mr. O’Leary will continue to have his usual numbers on the track this coming season but will not be adding to its ranks over the next few years.
As well as Gordon Elliott, the renowned Westmeath businessman has substantial numbers of horses with Noel Meade, Henry De Bromhead and Joseph O’Brien.
O’Leary has won the Cheltenham Gold Cup twice, with War Of Attrition in 2006 and Don Cossack in 2015.
Eddie O’Leary said this week that given his brother’s extensive work commitments, he now wants to spend more time with his wife and family. “As a result we are not going to be buying any more stores or young horses. We’ve just had the best season ever in Ireland in terms of winners and its been an amazing year, capped by Tiger Roll winning the Grand National for the second time.”
“We have lots of young stock to be allocated amongst our trainers over the coming weeks and each of our trainers will receive their usual allocation of young point to pointers.
“Each and every one of those horses will remain in the Gigginstown colours for the entirety of their career so hopefully, we can have many more great days to look forward to,” the Gigginstown spokesman, Eddie O’Leary added.
Michael O’Leary expressed thanks to all their trainers and their teams for the enormous success they had enjoyed.
In the racing world Michael O’Leary began with horses on the flat with David Wachman and Mick Halford, but advanced rapidly to become a major jumps owner, rivalled only by J.P. McManus in Ireland.